Hello Australia!! - No escape route for Julian Assange - A bloody day in Israel - The bizarre death of a TV star - Trump's semi-successful multi-layer con - And more in your CareerSpot Global News Briefs:

First things first:  BABY PYGMY HIPPO!!  BABY PYGMY HIPPO!!

A Swedish judge upheld a detention order for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange over rape allegations, dismissing his attempt to get the charges dismissed.  The 45-year-old glorified computer hacker denies the charges, and has avoided extradition to Sweden by hiding out inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012.  Assange believes if he is arrested he will be sent to the US to answer for leaking embarrassing military secrets. 

Israeli security forces shot and killed three assailants after three knife and car attacks in Israel and Jewish settlements in the West Bank.  There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attacks, but they fit the pattern of "lone wolf" attacks carried out by Palestinians over the last year.  There was no apparent connection.  In the first and third attacks, men with knives lunged at cops at the Damascus gate and at soldiers guarding a Jewish  settlement in Hebron, respectively.  In between, a man tried to drive over people waiting at a bus stop at the entrance of the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Arba in the West Bank.  Soldiers shot the driver and took a female passenger into custody; both were/are just 18 years old.

An offshoot of the Pakistani Taliban took responsibility for the suicide bombing at a mosque in the tribal north that killed 25 people and wounded 34 more.  Officials say two children under the age of 10 were killed in the blast while four children under the age of 10 are among the injured.

The Pentagon says an airstrike has killed Islamic State (IS) official "Dr. Wa'il", or Wa'il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad who "operated as the minister of information for the terror organization and was a prominent member of its Senior Shura Council".  This happened near the terrorist group's de facto capital of Raqqa, Syria.  The US military has placed a priority on getting high-profile IS leaders responsible for the group's propaganda machine.

Brazilian soap opera star Domingos Montagner is dead from drowning on a location set of the country's most popular soap opera "Velho Chico".  The 54-year-old had gone for a swim with an actress in the Sao Francisco River in the north-eastern state of Sergipe, but was swept away by strong currents.  Witnesses at first didn't know if it was part of the show, and delayed jumping in to help.  The 52-year old Montagner will be buried in his hometown of Sao Paulo on Saturday.

Thousands of people protested in Mexico City, demanding the resignation of their "incompetent" president Enrique Pena Nieto.  His approval rating has plunged to 23 percent over corruption, a bad economy, and his recent meeting with disgusting slimeball US presidential candidate Donald Trump who had infamously referred to Mexicans as "rapists", "thieves", and "murderers".

Onto the US Presidential Shyteshow...

Racist scumbag Donald Trump attempted a multi-level con on the US corporate media on Friday:  He invited them to his hotel in Washington, DC, to give his "final" word on the false controversy over the birthplace of US President Barack Obama (Hawaii).  He claimed to accept that Mr. Obama was a US citizen; even though the event was introduced by a leader of the racist "birther" movement, sending a "nudge nudge wink wink not really" signal to racists.  He lied about the "birther" allegations beginning with Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign, when everyone in the world knows that isn't true.  And after spending only 36 seconds on the supposed revelation, he then used the free news coverage to shill for his crappy hotel, which turns out is filled with items that were made in China, which he tells his supporters he hates.

BTW, President Obama's citizenship did not at any time ever require the endorsement of Trump

The amazing part was that, for a change, many members of the US corporate realized they were being used, and reported the story that way.  But, still too many reported it in a simplistic, "headline news" fashion that made it appear as if the fascist demagogue accepted reason and changed his ways.  In fact, he did not.  Recent polling indicates that for the corporate media's support of this arsehole - and the baseless pillorying of Hillary Clinton over the misuse of an office machine - the world's biggest economy and most powerful military now have a four-in-ten chance of being trusted to the stewardship of an insane, bigoted conman.

Countries like Australia and New Zealand need to start asking, "What happens to things like human rights, open democracies, and fair economies if the biggest kid on the block is no longer their protector?"